Orthomolecular medicine
Orthomolecular medicine is a form of alternative medicine aimed at maintaining health through nutritional supplementation and based on the idea that there is an optimum nutritional environment in the body and that diseases reflect deficiencies in this environment. Treatment for disease, according to this view, is an attempt to correct "imbalances or deficiencies based on individual biochemistry" by use of supposedly "natural" substances such as vitamins, minerals, amino acids, trace elements and fatty acids. The notions behind orthomolecular medicine are not supported by sound medical evidence and the therapy is not effective; even the accuracy of calling the orthomolecular approach a form of medicine has been questioned since the 1970s.